


Everybody Makes Mistakes

by zorilleerrant



Category: Static Shock
Genre: Episode Related, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-05-29
Updated: 2017-05-29
Packaged: 2018-11-06 15:09:02
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,117
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11038707
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/zorilleerrant/pseuds/zorilleerrant
Summary: Written for Static Shock Appreciation Week 2017, to the prompt of what made us like Virgil. It's basically the first episode through Virgil's thoughts on it.





	Everybody Makes Mistakes

Virgil’s mom always said that everybody makes mistakes. His dad does, too. His sister – though he’s not in the habit of listening to his sister – says it, his teachers say it, every children’s show he’s ever watched says it. It’s not that he doesn’t believe them, exactly, because he’s quick to forgive other people’s mistakes, it’s just that he doesn’t really feel it. He’s cultivated a sort of – it’s not really a spiritual belief, and not really a philosophy, maybe more of a superstition.

The idea is this: mistakes are the things that shape who you are as a person.

When he tries to put it into words, people read it like he’s talking about fate, or destiny, something about how mistakes have to be made to shape the world into what it’s supposed to be. It’s a lot less metaphysical than that. Mistakes have already shaped the world, the way it is right now. That doesn’t mean they’re good things, or Virgil wouldn’t try so hard to avoid them, but it does mean every single personality around is a culmination of lots of little mistakes.

Virgil doesn’t really like thinking of himself as a series of mistakes shaped into a person. It seems to fit, though. He’s learned to avoid things because of the time he didn’t avoid them.

So maybe it is about destiny, at least a little bit, or at least controlling his own, and Virgil takes every opportunity he can to avoid making mistakes, because he kind of likes the person he is right now, and he doesn’t really want to be different – or at least not too different.

He stumbles over how to ask someone out so many times, worrying what even the smallest error will do to his future. He wonders when not asking someone out becomes a mistake itself. He wonders when saying it wrong becomes a smaller one than skipping it.

There are some things Virgil knows are not mistakes: helping someone with their homework, sticking up for people when they’re being harassed, making sure your family doesn’t worry, trying to change the world for the better. Sometimes, he acts quickly, unafraid of the consequences, because when someone threatens his friend, it’s obvious he should step in. Of course, making the right choice doesn’t render you immune to consequences.

There are some things Virgil knows are definitely mistakes, and getting involved in organized crime when he has a way to avoid it? Well, that’s up there. That’s a mistake that will hurt his future, sure, but that will hurt his family more, especially after – well, he has a hard and fast line about guns, even if he doesn’t know how to say no. It would be one thing to say no if they were bullying him, like on every after school special ever, but they aren’t. These are people Virgil’s known since he was a kid, people who have been his friends –

And they’re being so _nice_. They want, maybe not to protect him, even though they say it like that, but at least to include him, to spend time with him, to help each other out. And Virgil’s well aware they’d help him more than he could help them. If he were willing.

So he doesn’t say no when they help him the first time, the way he tried to help, the way he always will when he has the opportunity. He doesn’t say anything when they help him again, in a situation he’s made fun of more than once, even though he knew it really happened sometimes, and Virgil isn’t sure he’ll ever be able to make a joke about alleys again; he wants to decline their invitation, but he doesn’t. And he doesn’t leave. And he doesn’t say anything when they hand him the gun.

Here’s what Virgil knows about guns: they can be made completely mechanical, but many newer ones have some sort of technological aid. They’re not as old as cannons, but older than tanks, and without the invention of gunpowder would never have existed. They’ve come in many different designs over the years, including slimmer and decorated designs intended for women to carry, and handguns now have many more bullets than they used to hold. The chamber spins the bullet and leaves striations, which can be used like a fingerprint to match a bullet to a gun. When someone points a gun at you, the chances of them shooting are one in ten, the chances of them hitting you are one in ten, the chances of them hitting a vital organ are one in ten; you should run if you can.

Here's what Virgil knows about guns: all guns are real, all guns are loaded, and you should never point a gun at someone you don’t want to kill.

Virgil doesn’t want to kill anyone.

So when he holds it in his hand, he barely has time to register that it’s heavier than the toys and props he’s seen, that it feels like a scythe in his grip. He barely has time to notice that it’s shinier than he thought it would be, that it’s neither the matte black he imagines nor the bright colors of something too poisonous to touch. He barely has time to notice it’s cold, but not the otherworldly cold he might imagine, just…an object. It’s just an object.

He throws it in the lake.

Virgil makes a lot of mistakes leading up to that moment, and he’s not sure how many he makes after – whether he should have fought, whether he should have run, whether he should have helped – but, at least at that moment, he knows he did the right thing.

And that night leads directly to Static. Virgil isn’t sure whether he would do it over again, because it’s not usually something he bothers to consider (after all, no one gets do-overs), but he does know Static makes him who he is. And Static makes it possible for him to make up for the little mistakes he made to get here, and the bigger mistakes other people have made, before it all spirals out of control. He changes, after Static. Probably it’s for the better. He’s not sure.

What Virgil is sure about, though, is that it’s a different world after the big bang and his powers; it’s a different life being a superhero than a high school student. His decisions are bigger, his mistakes more dangerous, and his indecision more paralyzing. But it does tend to put things in perspective.

After Static, it doesn’t seem like forgetting to format his citations will fundamentally alter his world, and school gets just slightly easier for Virgil.


End file.
